Have you ever experienced turning off an appliance or faucet only to experience loud banging in your pipes? This is a common problem, especially in older homes. It is caused by a change in pressure, with your water not finding anywhere to go, eventually literally hitting itself against the wall, causing the loud noise. This is a serious problem that needs to be resolved before your pipes are damaged.

A likely culprit to this problem is your air chamber. Air chambers are installed to prevent this problem known as a water hammer. Air chambers are vertical pipes that will allow the water pressure to push out, but if they fill up with water, they might not work as intended. An easy way to drain your air chambers is to open up every faucet connected to your plumbing system with your main water shut off valve closed. This should let the water drain out of the air chambers and ensure that they work properly once again.